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Donna Eleese-Beckett
" (Season 1) Mimi Kuzyk in “The Leap Back” (Season 4) }} Donna Eleese Beckett was a scientist at Project Quantum Leap and the wife of Dr. Samuel Beckett. Due to Sam's Swiss cheese memory and the Top Secret classification of any information regarding her, very little is known of Dr. Eleese. She was briefly reunited with Sam during . On the ''Quantum Leap'' TV series, Donna is played by Teri Hatcher in the Season 1 episode " ", and then by Mimi Kuzyk in the Season 4 opening episode " ". In the original timeline Sam and Donna never married as she jilted Sam at the alter because of issues with her estranged father that caused her intimacy problems with men. However, Sam's third leap was into one of her college professors and he managed to help her patch things up with her dad, presumably changing history and allowing them to marry as planned ( ). It is also possible that while Sam was jilted at their first wedding but rescheduled and the second time Donna showed up and Sam's Swiss cheese memory just forgot about the second wedding. Neither theory has been officially explained on camera so they can both be seen as conjecture. The latter would explain why Sam remembered that they were married when he regained his memory during "The Leap Back." Originally, Sam met Donna when they were both working on Project Star Bright in the 1980s. They fell in love and got engaged, but on their intended wedding day, Donna never showed up. Relationship progression In the episode , Sam ran into Donna when she was still just a college student, before they met in the regular timeline. Of course, Sam was not Sam here; he had leaped into a professor of Donna's. He tried to convince Donna that he was not who he appeared to be by having her look into his eyes. Donna did seem to notice something, but got uncomfortable and walked away from Sam. Later, Sam (still as the professor) talked to Donna about his theories of a finite universe, upon which his string theory (for time travel) was based. When Sam remembered that her father had left her as a child, he arranged for a reunion for them, hoping that fixing this broken relationship would keep her from running away from men as an adult. But Al reminds Sam that she had left one other man at the altar before Sam, and that if the rift between Donna and her father were fixed, she would most likely end up marrying the other guy instead. However, in the episode , the audience learns that Donna did marry Sam in the changed history. She had told Al not to inform Sam of their marriage, because she didn't think he could fulfill his missions properly (which sometimes involved romancing women) if he knew he had a wife. Sam finally remembered Donna when he switched places with Al and came back to the year 1999. Donna told Sam that she never felt betrayed by any of his actions with other women. Unfortunately, Sam needed to leap back in Al's place in order to save Al's life. Donna was initially upset and didn't want Sam to leave again, but she eventually realized that Sam was right. She herself was the one to push the button on Ziggy's console to send Sam back in time again. Upon learning that Sam had once again gotten amnesia from the leap, Donna strictly forbade Al from reminding Sam of the marriage, so Sam could continue to fulfill his missions. Donna believed that Sam would come back to her again one day. (As of , this has yet to occur.) Al does seem to try to drop hints to Sam about Donna. In , Sam sweats before the wedding of the guy he's leaped into, and Al comments, "Funny. You didn't sweat the first time." Sam: "I'm MARRIED?" Al: "Uh, just kidding!" Al also reminds Sam of their simo-leap in and . Non-canon appearances Donna made appearances in several of the novels. In Knights of the Morningstar, Donna wrote a letter to Sam's mother explaining how difficult it was to live without Sam sometimes, though she eventually tore that letter up and wrote a much simpler note instead. The reader also learns that before Sam left again, he gave Al a note with some money so that Donna could get a birthday present every year from Sam, even if somewhat indirectly. In Random Measures, Al recalls Sam's wedding day, and how he initially pretended to forget the wedding rings as a joke, then realized that he actually had lost them. Sam was furious, but Donna thought it was hilarious. Al also remembers how shocked he was the first time he came back into the Waiting Room and discovered Donna there, as a result of the changed history. He also muses to himself that sometimes Donna won't be there because of a change Sam makes, and then when Sam changes something else, she'll suddenly be back. In Independence, Sam falls for one of his own ancestors from the Civil War, not realizing that his attraction to her is based on how similar she happens to look to Donna. In Mirror's Edge, a story that takes place just before "Mirror Image," Donna enters the Imaging Chamber with Al to tell Sam that their marriage was probably a mistake, which would explain why Sam doesn't think about returning to her in the subsequent story. However, as with all the novels, no elements are canon unless established by a future movie or TV show. Category:Characters Category:Quantum Leap Characters